Vas and Reyer finished reading at almost the same time. They both looked over the rim of the tablet. Gardner was watching them. There was a hint of a smirk at the edge of his lips.

“Well?” the former general asked.

“At least Alix’s name isn’t anywhere here,” Adan said.

“I had enough information and evidence without needing to bring up how Harlan managed to find the home planet.”

“You told me you’d delete everything that had to do with Project 32.”

“Technically, Captain, you only told me to delete the files Harlan had on Miss Reyer. You told me you wanted me to shut down Project 32. I did both. Fable and I pushed through the orders to bring the project to an official close. We reassigned the few people who were left that had been associated with the project, and to be safe, we stripped them of all their clearance levels. After the last files were put into storage, I went in and deleted them off the Supremacy network. Then I took my copy of the files, deleted any information they had gathered about various planets and every file that so much as hinted at Miss Reyer’s existence. Everything that’s left of Project 32 is on that nan-card or gathering dust in some forgotten corner of Fable’s old base.”

“That’s the base he wanted to go to after you started asking questions?” Reyer said.

Gardner nodded.

“Why did you keep anything?” Vas asked.

“So he could hold it over their heads,” Reyer muttered. When Adan turned to her, she explained. “That’s why Cooney seized all the nan-cards on the ship. He was hoping to get this one so Gardner couldn’t threaten them anymore.”

“I didn’t threaten them,” Gardner said.

From their expressions, it was obvious no one on the ship was going to take that statement at face value.

Gardner raised his chin. “I did inform them I had such a nan-card, but then I switched the topic by mentioning that I needed their help. I can’t imagine why everyone keeps insisting I’d do something as crass as threaten my comrades.”

“Uh-huh,” Ciro said. “And in the meantime, I lost almost every nan-card I had!”

Adan noticed Alix’s hand tighten around the frame of the tablet. “Don’t worry,” he said. When she looked at him, he smiled. “You don’t think Ciro or I would ever let the Supremacy get Rising information, do you?”

Alix let out a breath of laughter. “Probably not.”

“Probably not?” Ciro made a short pfff noise. “Please! I have my pride. I’m not worried about the information. I’m annoyed because now I’ll lose a day re-creating my collection.”

“Exactly how long does it take to copy information over to a nan-card?” Gardner asked.

“Depending on the transfer port and size of the information load,” Lynx said, “it can take anywhere from three to eighty-one seconds.”

The general resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Technically, he had asked.

“Lynx,” Reyer said, “that’s what General Gardner thinks of as sarcasm.”

The robot paused to process the information. “But it was a question.”

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“He already knew the answer.”

“I sensed no change in his tone which would indicate he was using sarcasm.”

“It’s called subtlety, bot,” Gardner said. “Maybe you’ve never come across it before.”

“The real question is how big was Ciro Vas’s nan-card collection,” Reyer said.

Ciro groaned. “All four books! That’s over five hundred cards!” He groaned again, louder.

For a brief moment, Gardner was stunned. Then he threw back his head and laughed. “More than he bargained for! Yes. I think that’s about right. Ah, thank you, Mr. Vas. I’ll bet those soldiers had a grand time raiding this ship.”

“You should’ve seen them,” Vas said. “He kept pulling them out from everywhere. It was like watching a magician. Their faces were priceless.” The captain clicked off the tablet he was sharing with Reyer and put it down beside him. “All right, Gardner. Why didn’t you tell us about the nan-card.”

Gardner’s chuckling faded out. He put a pudgy hand to his forehead. “Captain, may I have some more water?”

Since Ciro was already standing, he went back and grabbed a bottle. He noticed the general frown as he held it out. “No, sir, it hasn’t magically changed to vodka yet.”

“Ah, but one must remain hopeful.”

“Miss Reyer,” Lynx said, “was that also an example of General Gardner’s sarcasm?”

Alix’s eyes narrowed. “Not even I’m sure on that one, Lynx.”

Gardner took a swallow of water and let out a sigh as he lowered the bottle. “Let me see now. Ah, yes.” He raised his eyes to Adan. “Captain, I’m a man who’s spent all his life buried in secrets. Most of them were dangerous enough to get me killed if the wrong people learned about them. I made it a habit to say as little as possible. I didn’t tell you about the nan-card because I didn’t think to. I wasn’t trying to withhold it from you—it simply didn’t occur to me to share it.” He looked at Reyer. “And you didn’t need to pull a gun on me to get it.”

“I was getting you used to excitement,” Reyer said.

“Oh! I see! I guess that makes it perfectly acceptable.”

“Registering Emery Gardner’s tone of sarcasm. Can you confirm?” Lynx said.

“Does that robot ever give up?”

“No,” Reyer said. “It’s not in his programming.”

Gardner turned back to Vas. “I never dreamed that Cooney would presume to have your ship searched. I apologize.” He paused. “And may I say, I’m impressed how well you handled it? They must have gone over this runner with a magnifying glass if they were looking for a hidden nan-card. And they still didn’t figure out who you were?” He shook his head. “As I said—impressive.”

Vas stood up. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“Oh?” Reyer gave him a flash of her teasing smile.

“I was talking to him.”

“Captain, are you aware you’re blushing?”

“Lynx!”

“Shutting up now, sir.”

The captain turned back to Gardner. “Given my role in the Rising, I’m used to having my ship searched by the Supremacy.”

“What exactly is your role, Captain?”

“We have secrets too, General.” Vas took a second to stretch out his back. “Did you learn what you needed to?”

“No. But we have another lead. If we want to know more, we’ll have to follow Fable.”

“General, it’s my understanding that Vincent Fable is dead,” Lynx noted.

“Well, that’ll make him easy to follow,” Ciro said.

Gardner ignored Ciro’s comment. “He is, bot. But we know where he wanted to go, and I think I know why he was going there.”

“His old base,” Vas said.

“Yes. I think he wanted to look at the paper records from Project 32.”

“Any idea what’s in those records?” Reyer asked.

“I don’t know everything that’s in them, but I suspect the exact number of human-xenos is one bit of information we might find. Is that worth going after, Captain?”

“As long as it isn’t too dangerous, yes.”

“Not dangerous at all.”

“Do you think Fable died there?” Reyer’s voice was the embodiment of innocence.

The general’s smirk disappeared. “At least it won’t be dangerous because of the Supremacy. It’s on an abandoned planet. It was always a small base. Fable chose it to be the home of Project 32 because it was mostly ignored by the Supremacy. Now there’s no one left at all.”

Vas nodded. “Then I think it’s worth it. We’ll leave now. Do you know where it is, General?”

“Not exactly. I know the name of the planet though. Hopefully, Mr. Ciro will be able to help us look up the coordinates.”

Before Ciro could answer, a long, piercing, high-pitched beep filled the ship. After a second, it repeated. Vas, Lynx, and Reyer looked around the cabin in various states of unease, trying to locate the source of the noise. Ciro leaped over to a small pile of tablets. He pushed aside the ones on top and pulled out the last one.

Everyone watched as he cut the noise and woke the tablet. A few hand motions later, the relevant program was open.

Ciro raised his head. “It’s the emergency signal.”

“Which emergency signal?” Vas growled. He didn’t like loud, unexpected beeping on his ship, and he hated the words “emergency signal.”

“Dr. Jane is asking for an immediate evacuation.”